Financial Wellbeing

Through our Banking Facilities For All (BFFA) initiative, we assist UK residents who face difficulties in providing traditional identification documents, such as refugees, individuals experiencing homelessness, those fleeing abuse, and prison leavers. Through BFFA, we are working to eliminate barriers to opening an account by accepting alternative forms of ID. We continue to work with industry and the third sector to understand reasons customers may not be able to engage with banking services and the steps we can take to support access.

We provide a basic personal current account, known as a Foundation account to support financial inclusion. The account may be offered to those with poor, little or no credit history or those going through bankruptcy. It includes a debit card, access to digital banking services and everyday support such as text alerts to help customers manage their money. Holders don’t have access to an overdraft or credit card and the account allows customers to bank with no monthly fee or added interest.

As at 31 December 2024, we support 883,000 personal customers with a Foundation account.

We play an important role in giving personal customers access to the finance they need. It’s important that we lend responsibly, making sure we’re helping people access the finance they need today, without creating financial stress tomorrow.

We have a range of products that aim to enable customers access affordable credit, of which credit cards and overdrafts are two key propositions. Before applying, all customers can review products and eligibility without impacting their credit score.

These are complemented by tools to help customers understand and access borrowing options. See page 79 of the 2024 Sustainability Report for more details.

We use a data-led approach to monitor usage closely across our lending and have processes in place to protect customers. These processes help us to quickly identify anyone who might be getting into financial difficulty or using our products in a way that could create longer-term problems, for example persistent debt, repeat-use, or paying for gambling.

We communicate with customers who may be struggling and provide access to a dedicated Financial Health and Support team, who offer specialist support to customers in financial difficulty.

During 2024, we sent over 4 million in targeted SMS, emails and letters to our most financially stretched customers. We also shared targeted digital reminders signposting customers to tools, advice and support. 

If customers miss a payment, we have measures in place to support them. For example, we suppress interest on overdrafts at 32 days in excess and, where customers missed several payments on secured and unsecured debt, and we give customers the flexibility to spread the repayment of missed payments over up to 2 years. We support customers to tailor the solutions that could help to improve their financial situation.

We also actively refer customers for Free Independent Money Advice (FIMA) through our debt advice charity partners PayPlan for personal customers and Step Change for business customers, with 13,300 customers being referred in 2024. We also provide information on how to access the Financial Ombudsman Service. 

Our Senior Personal Bankers provide free reviews of finances for personal and business customers, supporting them to understand which products or services could help them progress towards their financial goals. We provided assisted Financial Health Checks to 321,000 Retail customers in 2024 and 22,000 to business customers.

We are not able to provide our products and services to everyone who applies for them. We can direct customers who are unable to access credit, or whose applications are declined, to practical tools. These tools include our Benefits Calculator, which aims to help improve their finances and increase likelihood of a future successful application. We also provide information on how we reach our decisions.